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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Photos from 1972

Uttamasloka Das just sent me 27 photos taken in Toronto 1972, at the installation of Radha Kshirachor Gopinath in the Gerrard Street temple.

The first one has Jagadish, Rochan and Vishwambhar in it. That's me knocking heads with Jagadish over the fire vedi. We were still wearing synthetic yellow broadcloth for dhotis.

What a surprise to see Subal Swami in this photo, wearing genuine Indian duds. India-returned was a big deal in those days. I would never have remembered that he was there on that day. How'd you like that, Subal?

Memory is one of the most unreliable things. Devotees, family, practically everyone I know, can talk about things I did or said without me remembering a word of it.

But when I met Dayananda in New York, we each had a story about the other that the other did not remember. He remembered me daily chanting loud outside his window when he was trying to catch a few minutes of extra rest before mangal arati, and I remembered him saying, "In this age of Kali we are all shudras. I myself am happiest when I am sweeping the temple." Or some other wisdom of that sort. I remembered that vividly, because he was one of the most intellectually gifted devotees around. Funny that his memory of me should be as a noisy, inconsiderate japa chanter!

""Gaura bhaktas, who are the most worshipable entities in the entire world, have displayed the zenith of humility. Their resolve to wear a particular type of clothes, their bowed-down faces and meek words constitute the highet ideal and the supreme teachings of dainya."